Fair’s the way now, women set to coach their own in Indian hockey

Saurabh Duggal, Hindustan Times

In a probable first, the India women’s hockey team has got women coaches. The Sports Ministry has included the names of former captains, Pritam Siwach and Sandeep Kaur, in the coaching staff for the camp at the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala. The camp, which started on Tuesday, is for the World Cup in Argentina later this month.

Arjuna awardee Pritam, who lead India to the silver medal in the 1998 Asian Games, and Sandeep, who was skipper for the 1998 World Cup, are among the four coaches with the team.

The other two are Sandeep Somesh and goalkeeping coach, Khalid Modi.

The Ministry will finalize the chief coach later.

Somesh and Modi were part of the coaching staff when one of the core group members, Th Ranjita, raised allegations of sexual harassment against some members of the coaching staff. The other players backed her and demanded justice.

After the sex scandal, the players demanded the removal of some of the coaches but requested that Somesh and Modi be retained.

Rupa Saini in as team manager

The government observer for women’s hockey, Rupa Saini, has replaced Madhu Yadav, who is also a selector, as team manager. The players had complained against Yadav and alleged that she had spoilt the team’s morale with her “unhealthy comments”. The team, in its letter to the Ministry on July 18, had requested that Yadav be removed.

Selection trials on Aug 13

Till the tussle between Hockey India (HI) and the Indian Hockey Federation over affiliation to the international hockey federation is sorted out, the Ministry has asked the SAI and IOA to look after the team. The Ministry has also given its approval to the existing selection committee, which will select the squad for the World Cup on August 13-14.